Jaguar D-Type sells for staggering $28m, breaks record

The hammer has dropped on the world’s most expensive Brit.

Money seemed no object at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey auctions in California last week after a 1955 Jaguar D-Type clocked up a stratospheric US$19.8m final bid.

But this isn’t the first time it spanked the competition. This particular D-Type, known as chassis XKD 501, is an overall Le Mans winner, conquering the 24 hour endurance event in 1956.

Since then it’s traded hands twice, and been restored and maintained with meticulous detail. RM Sotheby’s claims the first ‘team series’ D-Type to be “one of the most important and valuable Jaguars in the world,” as well as one of the “most historic British sports cars ever made”.

Pictures via RM Sotheby’s